By default, reducers applied to imagery weight the inputs according to the mask value.
This is relevant in the context of fractional pixels created through operations such as
`clip()`. Adjust this behavior by calling `unweighted()` on the
reducer. Using an unweighted reducer forces all pixels in the region to have the same
weight. The following example illustrates how pixel weighting can affect the reducer
output:

For weighted reductions, pixel intersection weights are represented internally as 8-bit
integers (0 to 255). This quantizes fractional pixel coverage into 256 discrete levels.
Consequently, any coverage fraction less than approximately 1/256 (\~0.4%) rounds down to a
weight of 0 (invalid). See the
[Reduce Region guide](https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/reducers_reduce_region#pixels-in-the-region)
for more details on how pixels in a region are weighted.

### Code Editor (JavaScript)

```javascript
// Load a Landsat 8 input image.
var image = ee.Image('LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1/LC08_044034_20140318');

// Create an arbitrary region.
var geometry = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(-122.496, 37.532, -121.554, 37.538);

// Make an NDWI image.  It will have one band named 'nd'.
var ndwi = image.normalizedDifference(['B3', 'B5']);

// Compute the weighted mean of the NDWI image clipped to the region.
var weighted = ndwi.clip(geometry)
  .reduceRegion({
    reducer: ee.Reducer.mean(),
    geometry: geometry,
    scale: 30})
  .get('nd');

// Compute the UN-weighted mean of the NDWI image clipped to the region.
var unweighted = ndwi.clip(geometry)
  .reduceRegion({
    reducer: ee.Reducer.mean().unweighted(),
    geometry: geometry,
    scale: 30})
  .get('nd');

// Observe the difference between weighted and unweighted reductions.
print('weighted:', weighted);
print('unweighted', unweighted);
```
Python setup

See the [Python Environment](https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/python_install) page for information on the Python API and using
`geemap` for interactive development.

```python
import ee
import geemap.core as geemap
```

### Colab (Python)

```python
# Load a Landsat 8 input image.
image = ee.Image('LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1/LC08_044034_20140318')

# Create an arbitrary region.
geometry = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(-122.496, 37.532, -121.554, 37.538)

# Make an NDWI image.  It will have one band named 'nd'.
ndwi = image.normalizedDifference(['B3', 'B5'])

# Compute the weighted mean of the NDWI image clipped to the region.
weighted = (
    ndwi.clip(geometry)
    .reduceRegion(reducer=ee.Reducer.mean(), geometry=geometry, scale=30)
    .get('nd')
)

# Compute the UN-weighted mean of the NDWI image clipped to the region.
unweighted = (
    ndwi.clip(geometry)
    .reduceRegion(
        reducer=ee.Reducer.mean().unweighted(), geometry=geometry, scale=30
    )
    .get('nd')
)

# Observe the difference between weighted and unweighted reductions.
display('weighted:', weighted)
display('unweighted', unweighted)
```

The difference in results is due to pixels at the edge of the region receiving a weight
of one as a result of calling `unweighted()` on the reducer.

In order to obtain an explicitly weighted output, it is preferable to set the weights
explicitly with `splitWeights()` called on the reducer. A reducer modified by
`splitWeights()` takes two inputs, where the second input is the weight. The
following example illustrates `splitWeights()` by computing the weighted mean
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in a region, with the weights given by
cloud score (the cloudier, the lower the weight):

### Code Editor (JavaScript)

```javascript
// Load an input Landsat 8 image.
var image = ee.Image('LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1_TOA/LC08_186059_20130419');

// Compute cloud score and reverse it such that the highest
// weight (100) is for the least cloudy pixels.
var cloudWeight = ee.Image(100).subtract(
  ee.Algorithms.Landsat.simpleCloudScore(image).select(['cloud']));

// Compute NDVI and add the cloud weight band.
var ndvi = image.normalizedDifference(['B5', 'B4']).addBands(cloudWeight);

// Define an arbitrary region in a cloudy area.
var region = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(9.9069, 0.5981, 10.5, 0.9757);

// Use a mean reducer.
var reducer = ee.Reducer.mean();

// Compute the unweighted mean.
var unweighted = ndvi.select(['nd']).reduceRegion(reducer, region, 30);

// compute mean weighted by cloudiness.
var weighted = ndvi.reduceRegion(reducer.splitWeights(), region, 30);

// Observe the difference as a result of weighting by cloudiness.
print('unweighted:', unweighted);
print('weighted:', weighted);
```
Python setup

See the [Python Environment](https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/python_install) page for information on the Python API and using
`geemap` for interactive development.

```python
import ee
import geemap.core as geemap
```

### Colab (Python)

```python
# Load an input Landsat 8 image.
image = ee.Image('LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1_TOA/LC08_186059_20130419')

# Compute cloud score and reverse it such that the highest
# weight (100) is for the least cloudy pixels.
cloud_weight = ee.Image(100).subtract(
    ee.Algorithms.Landsat.simpleCloudScore(image).select(['cloud'])
)

# Compute NDVI and add the cloud weight band.
ndvi = image.normalizedDifference(['B5', 'B4']).addBands(cloud_weight)

# Define an arbitrary region in a cloudy area.
region = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(9.9069, 0.5981, 10.5, 0.9757)

# Use a mean reducer.
reducer = ee.Reducer.mean()

# Compute the unweighted mean.
unweighted = ndvi.select(['nd']).reduceRegion(reducer, region, 30)

# compute mean weighted by cloudiness.
weighted = ndvi.reduceRegion(reducer.splitWeights(), region, 30)

# Observe the difference as a result of weighting by cloudiness.
display('unweighted:', unweighted)
display('weighted:', weighted)
```

Observe that `cloudWeight` needs to be added as a band prior to calling
`reduceRegion()`. The result indicates that the estimated mean NDVI is
higher as a result of decreasing the weight of cloudy pixels.